The present invention relates to an animal feed supplement.
Animal feeds must be formulated to meet specific needs of digestive systems of particular animal groups. For instance, ruminants, such as cattle, sheep and goats have different nutritional requirements from non-ruminants because ruminants have multiple stomachs and unique microbial cultures in their digestive tracts. Ruminant feed must not upset these microbial cultures but must accommodate the animals' nutritional needs.
Protein requirements of ruminants may be typically met by feeding the animals urea, along with grain, hay and silage. Urea is broken down in the ruminants' stomachs by microbes so that nitrogen in the urea can be used to make amino acids. Urea is recycled in ruminants in the following path described in Biochemical Adaptation by P. W. Hochachka (1984): liver urea.fwdarw.blood urea.fwdarw.equilibration with extracellular water.fwdarw.salivary glands.fwdarw.urea in salivary glands.fwdarw.rumen urea. Once in the rumen, urea is hydrolyzed to bicarbonate ion and ammonium ion by the action of urease.
Urea does not typically provide more than 30% of nutrients that can be used by the ruminant to make protein. If a ruminant ingests too much urea, the animal may die because excess nitrogen is converted to ammonia which may be lethal to the animal.
Some non-ruminant animals, such as swine, are omnivores. Swine typically eat a diet that includes about 75 to 80 percent carbohydrate and about 16 percent protein. Swine typically are not fed urea. Swine have a very low tolerance for roughage. Corn is regarded as an excellent source of energy for swine but requires supplementation because corn is deficient in protein, calcium, and the amino acids, lysine and tryptophan. Swine are more sensitive to dietary deficiencies than ruminants because, unlike ruminants, swine do not have microbial cultures that synthesize required nutrients.
Poultry, which have crops and gizzards instead of stomachs, have different digestive systems and nutritional requirements than animals such as ruminants and non-ruminants such as swine. Poultry must ingest gritty materials such as oyster shells that mechanically aid each bird in digestion. Poultry, such as chickens, have a protein requirement of 16 to 20 percent of food ingested. Like swine, poultry typically do not ingest urea to make proteins. Poultry and swine, like ruminants, are susceptible to ammonia poisoning.
In addition to each animal's unique anatomy, nutritional requirements of the animals are dictated by each animal's needs with respect to meat production, milk production, egg production as well as reproduction of the animal and the animal's response to stress. Typically, the animal's feed must be specially formulated to provide the necessary carbohydrate, fat and protein in a form that can be metabolized by the animal.
The Anderson et al., U.S. Pat. No. 2,808,332, issuing Oct. 1, 1957, describes a use of ethanol in feed supplements for ruminant animals. The patent describes incorporation of ethanol into formulations that also include nitrogen sources such as urea, ammonia, ammonium propionate, ammonium phosphate, as well as phosphoric acid, molasses, vitamins and trace minerals. The patentees noted that microorganisms inhabiting the digestive tract of ruminants cannot sufficiently synthesize some of the amino acids needed from urea and carbohydrate when living aerobically, lacking unoxidized hydrogen. The ethanol is added to the feed supplement in order to supply unoxidized hydrogen to the ruminant.
The Anderson et al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,484,243 ('243), issuing Dec. 16, 1969, describes an animal feed for use by ruminants. The animal feed includes sugars, water-miscible alcohols such as ethyl alcohol and n-propyl alcohol, urea, and phosphoric acid.
The '243 patent describes a use of n-propyl alcohol because concentrated water-miscible alcohols, such as ethanol, have an undesirable property of denaturing protein on the animal's tongues. The patentees added n-propyl alcohol to their feed supplement in order to eliminate this adverse effect. The patentees noted that it was necessary to employ minimal concentrations of n-propyl alcohol in feeding animals initially because the cattle did not eat the supplement in adequate amounts if large quantities were added.
The Bentley et al, U.S. Pat. No. 4,863,959, issuing Sep. 5, 1989, describes a use of an anthranilonitrile derivative for promoting growth, improving feed efficiency, and for increasing a lean meat to fat ratio of warn blooded animals. The patent observed that anthranilonitrile derivatives tended to reduce fat and promoted growth in warm blooded animals. The patentees also noted that these materials are useful as antiasthmatic and antiobesity agents for humans. The anthranilonitrile derivatives are described as mixed directly with animal feeds or prepared in the form of animal feed premix or concentrate that could be blended with an animal feed or a top dressing.